Metal-strong Inflows at the Outer-galactic-scale of a Quasar

Abstract

We present an analysis of the absorption-line system in the Very Large Telescope/Ultraviolet and Visual Echelle Spectrograph spectrum at a redshift of $z_{\mathrm{a}}=3.1448$ associated with the quasar SDSS J122040.23+092326.96, whose systematic redshift is $z_{\mathrm{e}}=3.1380\pm 0.0007$, measured from the $\mathrm{H}\beta$+[O III] emission lines in our newly acquired NIR P200/TripleSpec data. This absorbing system, detected in numerous absorption lines including the N V, N III, C IV, C III, Si IV, Si III, and H I Lyman series, can be resolved into seven kinematic components with red-shifted velocities ranging from 200 to $900\mathrm{km}{\mathrm{s}}^{-1}$. The high-ionization N V doublet detected and the rather narrow Lyman series measured ($b\approx 14\mathrm{km}{\mathrm{s}}^{-1}$) suggest that the absorption gas is photo ionized, possibly by the quasar. A low density is inferred by the fact that N III $\lambda 989.80$ is significantly detected while N III* $\lambda 991.51$ ($\log n_{\mathrm{c}}=3.3\mathrm{c}{\mathrm{m}}^{-3}$) is undetectably weak. A firm lower limit of a solar value to the abundance of the gas can be set based on the measurements of Si IV and H I column densities, as first proposed by F. Hamann. Detailed photoionization simulations indicate that $T1$, and possibly the absorber as a whole, has metallicities of $Z\sim 1.5-6.0Z\mathrm{sun}$, and is located at $\sim 15\mathrm{kpc}$ from the quasar nucleus. The metal-strong absorption inflows at the outskirt of the quasar host galaxy is most likely originated in situ and were driven by stellar processes, such as stellar winds and/or supernova explosions. Such a relatively rare system may hold important clues to understanding the baryonic cycling of galaxies, and more cases could be picked out using relatively strong Si IV and weak Lyman absorption lines.

arXiv comment17 pages, 15 figures, published in ApJ

References in corpus (66)

• Maps of Dust IR Emission for Use in Estimation of Reddening and CMBR Foregrounds
• The Sloan Digital Sky Survey: Technical Summary
• The Seventh Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
• The UKIRT Infrared Deep Sky Survey (UKIDSS)
• The Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey of SDSS-III
• Composite Quasar Spectra From the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
• Stellar mass-to-light ratios and the Tully-Fisher relation
• Galactic Winds
• The Circumgalactic Medium
• A Method of Correcting Near-Infrared Spectra for Telluric Absorption
• Revisiting the Unified Model of Active Galactic Nuclei
• The UKIRT Infrared Deep Sky Survey ZYJHK Photometric System: Passbands and Synthetic Colours
• A Structure for Quasars
• An Analysis of the Shapes of Interstellar Extinction Curves. V. The IR-Through-UV Curve Morphology
• The Evolution of the Elemental Abundances in the Gas and Dust Phases of the Galaxy
• The WFCAM Science Archive
• The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Quasar Catalog: Fourteenth Data Release
• A Reappraisal of the Solar Photospheric C/O Ratio
• The UKIRT Wide Field Camera ZYJHK Photometric System: Calibration from 2MASS
• Unusual Broad Absorption Line Quasars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
• Improved redshifts for SDSS quasar spectra
• The Distribution of Column Densities and b Values in the Lyman-Alpha Forest
• Quasar Outflow Contribution to AGN Feedback: Observations of QSO SDSS J0838+2955
• The Quasar Outflow Contribution to AGN Feedback: VLT Measurements of SDSS J0318-0600
• The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Reverberation Mapping Project: Velocity Shifts of Quasar Emission Lines
• Metallicities and Abundance Ratios from Quasar Broad Emission Lines
• Quasar Outflows and AGN Feedback in the Far UV: HST/COS Observations of QSO HE0238-1904
• Photospheric Abundances: Problems, Updates, Implications
• ROTATION CURVES OF 967 SPIRAL GALAXIES
• The physics of the fundamental metallicity relation
• High-Resolution Keck Spectra of the Associated Absorption Lines in 3C 191
• Major contributor to AGN feedback: VLT X-shooter observations of SIV BAL QSO outflows
• Metal-enriched galactic outflows shape the mass-metallicity relationship
• The flux ratio of the [OIII] 5007,4959 lines in AGN: Comparison with theoretical calculations
• The Redshift Evolution of the Lyman Alpha Forest
• A Census of Intrinsic Narrow Absorption Lines in the Spectra of Quasars at z=2-4
• Broad P V Absorption in the BALQSO, PG 1254+047: Column Densities, Ionizations and Metal Abundances in BAL Winds
• Metal Abundances and Ionization in QSO Intrinsic Absorbers
• Stellar Winds on the Main-Sequence I: Wind Model
• The UVES Spectral Quasar Absorption Database (SQUAD) Data Release 1: The first 10 million seconds
• Evidence that 50% of BALQSO Outflows Are Situated at Least 100 pc from the Central Source
• The First Data Release of the KODIAQ Survey
• A 10 kpc Scale Seyfert Galaxy Outflow: HST/COS Observations of IRAS F22456-5125
• The Intrinsic Absorber in QSO 2359-1241: Keck and HST Observations
• The SDSS-DR5 Survey for Proximate Damped Lya Systems
• The Second Data Release of the KODIAQ Survey
• Tracing Outflowing Metals in Simulations of Dwarf and Spiral Galaxies
• Simulating the X-ray Forest
• BAL phosphorus abundance and evidence for immense ionic column densities in quasar outflows: VLT X-Shooter observations of quasar SDSS J1512+1119
• Chemical abundances in quasar host galaxies and environments from narrow absorption line systems
• The Complete Ultraviolet Spectrum of the Archetypal "Wind-Dominated" Quasar Mrk~231: Absorption and Emission from a High-Speed Dusty Nuclear Outflow
• Detection of hot, metal-enriched outflowing gas around $z\approx$2.3 star-forming galaxies in the Keck Baryonic Structure Survey
• VLT/X-Shooter Survey of BAL Quasars: Large Distance Scale and AGN Feedback
• Nature and statistical properties of quasar associated absorption systems in the XQ-100 Legacy Survey
• Evolution of chemical abundances in Seyfert galaxies
• A Mini-BAL Outflow at 900 pc from the Central Source: VLT/X-shooter Observations
• The DUVET Survey: Direct $T_e$-based metallicity mapping of metal-enriched outflows and metal-poor inflows in Mrk 1486
• The ESO UVES Advanced Data Products Quasar Sample - III. Evidence of Bimodality in the [N/alpha] Distribution
• Chemical Abundance of z~6 Quasar Broad-Line Regions in the XQR-30 Sample
• A compact, metal-rich, kpc-scale outflow in FBQS J0209-0438: Detailed diagnostics from HST/COS extreme UV observations
• Fast Inflow Directly Feeding Black Hole Accretion Disk in Quasars
• The Redshifted Hydrogen Balmer and Metastable He I Absorption Line System in Mini-FeLoBAL Quasar SDSS J112526.12+002901.3: A Parsec Scale Accretion Inflow?
• Discovery of Extremely Broad Balmer Absorption Lines in SDSS J152350.42+391405.2
• Outflow in Overlooked Luminous Quasar: Subaru Observations of AKARI J1757+5907
• Characterizing circumgalactic gas around massive ellipticals at z~0.4 III. The galactic environment of a chemically-pristine Lyman limit absorber
• SDSS J163459.82+204936.0: A Ringed Infrared-Luminous Quasar with Outflows in both Absorption and Emission Lines